Thursday, February 7, 2008

Photography class

Sometimes I wonder why things happen and how I get myself invovled in things without even trying. Take my photography class for one. I took it to get out of the house and not to become one of those boring housewives among other reasons. Being old and jaded around my classmates, well...that's another story.

There are only 17 people in class including myself. I sit in the corner surrounded by these 18-21 year olds and definately feel my age. I just can't relate to them at all not that I haven't tried. One Brazillian exchange student asked about nightclubs and bars to go to in the area. Wow, I haven't been to one in those in years. Couldn't tell her any in the area, just in another suburb 40 minutes away. I gave her the name of the place where I met my husband. Everyone thought that was so romantic to marry the guy that I met in a bar. Ummm o.k.

One day I showed up and started talking to two girls that were sitting close by me. One was complaining about this new medication that she was taking and its side effects. The other girl asked her what medication was making her sleepy. I thought it was a rude question to ask, so that tells you that I'm getting old. Sleepy-head tells her, and my head just wanted to smack the back of the wall in frustration. What was sleepy-head on????? An ANTI-PSYCHOTIC! Sleepy-head then begins to talk about her depression, anxiety, her PTSD and being diagnoised as Bi-Polar. The girl who started all of this then states that she was on that same medication to control her anger and was in therapy to deal with it. I'm really quite at this point, because I don't know what to say, even though I have plenty too say to both of them, like SHUT THE HELL UP. Too much information. They notice my silence and ask me what I do for a living. I tell them, I'm a therapist. Did that scare them? No. They start asking me for advice. I tell them to talk to their own therapist and psychiatrist. Sleepy-head asks me stuff about her medication. The only thing I say it to take it, and the sleepyness should wear off in a few days, if not to call her doctor.

Later in class another girl was asking me what I did for a living. I told her that I was an art therapist. I get a high five. Why? Because that's what she's going to school to become. She starts asking me a ton of questions. Now, I've become a mentor. I don't want to be anyones mentor at the moment. I want to take a photography class.

A few classes go by. The more I go to class the more I find out about my classmates, which makes me want to avoid them. Sleepy-head is no longer sleepy. She's just CRAZY! I determined that after participating in a conversation with her and Miss Anger Management while waiting for class to start. She starts talking about her crazy ex-boyfriend that was stalking her at some point in her short life and how she had a restraining order out on him. She decided to invite him over to hang out. When her roommate came home, he proceeded to beat up ex-boyfriend with a baseball bat. Miss Crazy decided to call the police and have the ex-boyfriend arrested for violating the restraining order, not for the fight currently going on. Ex-boyfriend was arrested, and she laughed saying he shouldn't have come over in the first place. Let me get this straight, you invite your ex-boyfriend over despite a restrianing order, and laugh when your roomate beats the crap out of him, and he gets arrested? Glad to see you accept responsiblity for your actions. Someone doesn't have a consious. At this point, I decided not to engage in any more converstations with either of these two girls ever again, unless it's related to class.

I decide to call a therapist friend of mine. She laughs when I tell her these stories. Laughs so hard she starts crying on the phone. Why? Because she knows me so well, that only strange things like this would happen to me. Only I would go to class and suddenly have the crazy people wanting to engage in a conversation. Only I would take a class where someone who wants to be an future art therapist decides to make me her mentor. Only me. Some how this insanity would only happen to me.

I swear I just wanted to take a simple photography class.